STUDENT 

FRIENDSHIP 

FUND 

Administered  through 
World’s  Student 
Christian  Federation 


1921-1922 


NATIONAL  HEADQUARTERS 
129  East  52d  Street 
New  York  City 


STUDENT 

FRIENDSHIP  FUND 


Administered  through  World's 
Student  Christian  Federation 


1921-1922 


INFORMATION  FOR  THE  USE  OF 
SPEAKERS  AND  LEADERS 


Issued  by  Student  Friendship  Fund 
October  15,  1921 


NATIONAL  HEADQUARTERS 
129  East  52d  Street 
New  York  City 


World’s  Student  Christian  Federation 

John  R.  Mott,  Chairman 

C\  T.  Wang,  First  Vice-Chairman 

Michi  Kawai,  Second  Vice-Chairman 

H.  C.  Rutgers,  Treasurer 

Kuth  Rouse,  Secretary  to  Executive  Committee 

Council  of  North  American  Student 
Movements 

Representing 

The  Student  Young:  Men’s  Christian  Associations 
of  the  United  States 

The  Student  Young  ‘Women’s  Christian  Associa¬ 
tions  of  the  United  States  ~ 

The  Student  Christian  Mcrvement  of  Canada 

The  Student  Volunteer  Movement  for  Foreign 
Missions 

John  R.  Mott,  Chairman 
Charles  "W.  Bishop,  Vice-Chairman 

r 

Clara  S.  Reed,  Treasurer 
David  R.  Porter,  Secretary 

Student  Friendship  Fund 

V 

Advisory  Committee 

Jane  Addams,  Hall  House,  Chicago,  Ill. 

Edwin  A.  Alderman,  President  University  of  Vir¬ 
ginia 

Jamies  Rowland  Angell,  President  Yale  Univer¬ 
sity 

Sarah  Louise  Arnold,  Dean  Emeritus  Simmons 
College 

Henry  Turner  Bailey,  Dean  Cleveland  School  of 
Art 

David  P.  Barrows,  President  University  of  Cal¬ 
ifornia 

Mary  Leal  Harkness  Black,  Vice-President  The 
Classical  Association  of  the  Middle  West  and 
South 

William  L.  Bryan,  President  University  of  In¬ 
diana 

Marion  LeRoy  Burton,  President  University  of 
Michigan 

Valentine  Chandor— Head  xMistress,  Miss  Chandor’s 
School 

i 

Ada  Comstock,  President  American  Associatiom 
of  University  Women 

John  H.  Finley,  Associate  Editor  New  York 
Times 

H.  A.  Garfield,  President  Williams  College 
J.  E.  Gregg,  President  Hampton  Institute 
John  Grier  Hibben,  President  Princeton  Univer¬ 
sity 

Herbert  C.  Hoover,  Secretary  of  Commerce 
David  Kinley,  President  University  of  Illinois 

Amelia  Mary  Rheinhardt,  President  Mills  Col¬ 
lege,  California 

Mrs.  Robert  E,  Speer,  President  National  Board 
of  the  Young  Women’s  Christian  Associations 

M.  Carey  Thomas,  President  Bryn  Mawr  College 
Robert  E.  Vinson,  President  University  of  Texas 

Ray  L.  Wilbur,  President  Leland  Stanford,  Jr., 
University 

Lucy  Madeira  Wing,  Principal  Miss  Madeira’s 
School,  Washington 

Woodrow  Wilson,  former  President  U.  S.  A. 


2 


HERBERT  HOOVER  TO  THE 
STUDENTS  OF  AMERICA 

He  said  October  y,  1^20: 

“The  conditions  in  the  Central  and 
Eastern  European  universities  make  it 
imperative  that  we  should  undertake  at 
the  earliest  possible  moment  further  en¬ 
deavor  to  meet  their  needs.  Students, 
both  men  and  women,  and  professors  are 
suffering  greatly.  Unless  we  can  pro¬ 
vide  every  possible  means  for  worthy 
students  to  continue  their  studies  in  as 
favorable  an  atmosphere  as  possible,  we 
shall  see  a  decadence  in  the  intellectual 
fibre  of  Europe.  We  have  a  strong  ob¬ 
ligation  to  these  colleges  for  the  great 
services  they  have  rendered  in  the  past 
in  adding  to  our  store  of  knowledge. 
To  allow  these  institutions  to  disin¬ 
tegrate  would  be  a  disaster,  not  only  to 
their  own  nations,  but  to  the  whole  civ¬ 
ilized  world.  I  find  that  your  Commit¬ 
tees  at  work  among  students  of  Euro¬ 
pean  universities  are  doing  wonderful 
work  in  encouraging  self-help,  in  hold¬ 
ing  the  staffs  and  students  together,  and 
in  maintaining  the  morale  of  the  uni¬ 
versities.” 

He  said  September  26,  1Q21: 

“I  am  impressed  with  the  fact  that 
there  is  no  greater  service  that  can  be 
perform.ed  than  that  of  keeping  alive  the 
institutions  through  which  the  real  ad¬ 
vancement  and  social  recovery  of  Europe 
must  arise.  I  believe  we  can  carry  our 
own  burdens  and  still  help  them.  I  wish 
you  well  with  the  work,  and  I  trust  that 
your  sense  of  sacrifice  will  enable  you 
to  continue  it.” 

Student  Relief  Is  Administered  Im¬ 
partially,  Without  Regard  to  Race, 
Nationality,  or  Creed,  or  Any  Other 

Criterion  Than  Proven  Need. 


3 


STAND  BY  THE  STUDENTS  OF 
EUROPE— WHY? 


From  year  to  year  there  is  pouring 
into  the  commercial,  industrial  and  pro¬ 
fessional  life  of  our  country  a  larger 
and  still  larger  proportion  of  educated 
men  and  women.  This  is,  of  course,  as 
it  should  be.  That  the  army  of  our 
students  is  larger  this  year  than  ever 
before  is  significant  and  assuring,  par¬ 
ticularly  when  it  is  considered  how  very 
recent  was  the  time  when  the  orderly 
processes  of  our  national  life  were  dis¬ 
traught  by  war  and  its  early  aftermath. 
The  demands  of  modern  times  in  all 
fields  of  effort  are  for  that  combination 
of  intellectual,  moral  and  physical 
equipment  which  makes  of  every  man 
and  woman  a  purposeful  and  intelligent 
builder  and  champion  of  a  forward- 
looking  civilization. 

With  few  among  its  young  people 
who  need  face  more  than  ordinary  ob¬ 
stacles  in  the  pursuit  of  an  education, 
America  feels  secure  in  the  constant  re¬ 
plenishment  and  increase  of  the  number 
of  her  citizens  who  have  a  trained  equip¬ 
ment  of  mind  as  well  as  of  heart  and 
hand.  In  her  educational  opportunities, 
in  the  democracy  of  her  educational  sys¬ 
tems,  the  thirst  of  her  young  people  for 
educational  advancement,  and  the  mani¬ 
fold  outlets  for  the  service  of  educated 
men  and  women  America  senses  the 
building  of  that  finer  humanity  which 
will  insure  a  stable,  peaceful  and  pros¬ 
perous  world. 

But  can  America  find  reasonable  con¬ 
tentment  in  her  own  extraordinary 
blessings ;  can  she  feel  secure ;  can  she 


4 


feel  assured  of  the  future,  when  in  most 
of  the  countries  of  Europe  the  student 
generation,  which  means  the  future  iu' 
tellectual  fibre,  is  fighting  against  des¬ 
perate  odds  for  just  that  kind  of  educa¬ 
tion  which  hundreds  of  thousands  of 
American  students  are  obtaining  under 
normal  conditions  and  advantages  ? 

By  every  consideration  of  economics, 
of  political  and  racial  relationships,  of 
intellectual  and  spiritual  sympathies,  our 
own  future  is  more  closely  knit  with  the 
future  of  the  peoples  of  Europe  than 
with  those  of  any  other  Continent.  Yet 
in  Europe  heroic  but  woefully  handi¬ 
capped  groups  are  struggling  for  the  pres¬ 
ervation,  the  vitalization  and  refinement 
of  the  mental  and  moral  values,  the  prin¬ 
ciples  and  institutions  which  stand  at  the 
very  heart  of  sustained  recovery  aixl 
progress.  The  disintegration  of  these 
things  could  be  nothing  but  disastrous, 
not  only  to  the  nations  directly  concerned, 
but  to  the  whole  civilized  world.  If  they 
fail ;  indeed  if  they  hold  to  life  but  do  so 
only  feebly  and  without  power  for  many 
years  to  make  their  impress  upon  the 
remoulding  of  Europe,  how  immeasur¬ 
able  will  be  the  loss  to  us  and  how  con¬ 
victing  will  be  our  failure  to  have  served 
as  fully  as  we  should  the  call  of  friend¬ 
ship  and  of  duty ! 

Fortunately  the  method  of  preserva¬ 
tion  is  clearly  apparent,  as  experience 
during  the  past  year  has  proven.  It  is 
through  the  preservation  of  the  human 
element  involved ;  through  making  it 
possible  for  worthy,  needy  students  to 
persist  in  their  studies.  Educational 
institutions  and  the  educational  future 
will  be  conserved  if  the  student  genera- 


tion  itself  does  not  fail.  The  promise  of 
an  equipped  leadership  for  Europe’s  fu¬ 
ture  lies  therein.  That  is  the  great  and 
already  justified  hope  in  the  work  of 
relief  which  has  been  going  forward  now 
for  a  year  and  more  at  the  behest  of  the 
students  of  more  fortunate  lands. 

It  is  cause  for  profound  thanksgiving 
that  the  students  of  America  undertook 
in  1920,  in  common  with  the  students 
of  other  countries,  to  express  their  ap¬ 
preciation  of  the  crisis  and  their  desire 
to  aid  in  overcoming  it.  Through  meas¬ 
ures  of  physical  relief  and  means  for 
self-help  administered  by  the  World’s 
Student  Christian  Federation  in  coopera¬ 
tion  with  the  American  Relief  Admin¬ 
istration  many  thousands  of  worthy  stu¬ 
dents  have  been  lifted  from  despair  and 
placed  in  position  to  complete  their  edu¬ 
cation.  The  work  has  been  the  more 
effective  in  that  the  recipients  of  relief 
are  doing  all  that  is  within  their  own 

power  to  maintain  themselves.  The  ma¬ 
jority  of  the  students  in  most  of  the 

countries  served  are  giving  part  time  to 
whatever  employment  comes  to  their 
hands,  no  matter  how  pitifully  small  the 
compensation. 

Relief  operations  have  been  conducted 
in  eleven  countries  on  the  basis  of  con¬ 
tributions  from  students  in  more  than 
twice  that  number  of  countries.  The 
immediate  results  have  been  large;  the 
permanent  results  cannot  be  estimated ; 
but  certainly  the  moral  and  spiritual 
results  will  far  outweigh  all  others.  This 
is  an  inevitable  conclusion  when  it  is 
considered  that  the  students  of  upwards 
of  forty  nations  have  been  drawn  to¬ 
gether  in  a  common  effort  to  pool  their 


6 


available  resources  to  save  part  of  their 
number  from  physical  and  intellectual 
starvation, "  and  to  build  stronger  and 
more  lasting  foundations  for  the  world 
relationships  of  the  future.  The  service 
has  transcended  all  barriers  of  race,  na¬ 
tionality,  language,  creed  or  political 
animosity. 

The  conditions  emphasized  when  the 
funds  for  student  relief  were  raised  a 
year  ago  have  not  yet  been  relieved  of 
their  critical  aspects.  The  decision  of 
all  whose  business  it  has  been  to  admin¬ 
ister  the  work  and  to  take  account  of 
conditions  is  that  the  relief  operations 
must  continue  for  at  least  another  year 
if  that  point  is  to  be  reached  where  the 
work  can  be  discontinued  without  sacri¬ 
fice  to  the  purpose  to  which  it  is  dedi¬ 
cated. 

The  support  of  this  cause  presents  a 
peculiar  appeal  to  the  students  of  Amer¬ 
ica.  The  conditions  under  which  they 
themselves  are  working  are  extraordi¬ 
narily  advantageous.  They  have  already 
shown  that  they  have  the  impulse,  the 
will  and  the  naeans  to  express  their 
friendship  for  the  students  of  Europe. 
And  it  is  confidently  felt  that  these  stu¬ 
dents  of  America,  both  men  and  women, 
in  colleges  and  universities,  in  schools 
of  whatever  sort,  will  want  the  service 
for  their  fellow  students  abroad  to 
“carry  on.” 

It  is  with  this  confidence  that  ob¬ 
servers  whose  judgment  is  highly  re¬ 
garded  by  the  student  world  have  taken 
occasion  at  this  time  to  present  their 
opinions  on  the  subject  of  continued 
relief  work  for  the  students  of  Europe. 
A  number  of  these  expressions  are  ap- 

7 


pended.  They  are  impressive,  but  their 
authors  will  testify  that  in  no  particular 
has  the  case  been  overstated,  but  rather 
that  every  expression  of  opinion  given 
understates  the  need  .‘and  urgency  of 
the  work. 

Expert  Testimony 

Dr.  James  Rowland  Angell,  Presi¬ 
dent  of  Yale,  in  matriculation  address 
delivered  before  the  student  body,  Octo¬ 
ber  2d,  said :  “The  social  order  the 
world  over  and  particularly  in  Eastern 
and  Central  Europe,  has  been  shaken  to 

V 

its  very  foundation.  Stability  and  so¬ 
briety  and  reason  will  only  assert  them¬ 
selves  again  as  a  generation  trained  to 
honest  thinking  and  courageous  endeavor 
once  more  comes  into  command. 

“Modern  society  is  calling  as  never 
before  in  our  lifetime  for  leadership,  for 
men  with  vision  and  character,  with 
trained  intelligence,  with  hope  and  confi¬ 
dence  in  the  finer  humanity  that  is  to 
come.  And  where  shall  such  men  be 
sought,  where  shall  they  be  bred,  if  not 
in  our  colleges  and  universities,  where 
are  gathered  all  that  history  and  civiliza¬ 
tion  and  science  and  art  have  to  teach 
us  of  God  and  man  and  nature. 

“Social  and  political  ideals  are  in  fer¬ 
ment,  moral  and  religious  traditions  are 
under  unprecedented  strain,  commercial 
and  industrial  relations  are  experiencing 
almost  revolutionary  change — and  more 
is  to  follow.  Surely  never  has  the  call  for 
independent  thinking  and  courageous 
initiative  been  so  loud  and  so  insistent.” 

Dr.  Bernard  I.  Bell,  President  of 
St.  Stephens’  College:  “The  students 
of  today  are  the  greatest  single  force  in 

8 


the  creating  of  international  good  will 
among  the  thinking  population  of  all  na¬ 
tions.  I  am  convinced  that  scholarship 
in  Europe  is  alarmingly  deteriorating 
because  of  lack  of  books,  underfeeding 
and  physical  feebleness.  If  the  Ameri¬ 
can  student  can  visualize  thousands  of 
students,  underfed,  -  housed  scarcely 
better  than  beasts,  calling  for  help  in  the 
name  of  common  learning  and  common 
religion,  they  will  contribute  the  amount 
needed  for  the  Student  Friendship 
Fund.” 

Lord  Robert  Cecil,  Chancellor  of 
the  University  of  Birmingham: 

“There  is  no  such  thing  as  material 
learning;  World  learning  is  the  only 
thing  worth  considering.  In  the  great 
task  of  promoting  the  brotherhood  of 
humanity  is  learning  to  lag  behind? 

“Let  us  not  forget  the  great  work  done 
in  past  ages  by  the  universities  in  keep¬ 
ing  alive  by  the  interchange  of  learning 
the  idea  of  the  essential  unity  of  man¬ 
kind,  and  now  that  there  is  springing  up 
in  the  hearts  of  so  many  the  ardent  long¬ 
ing  for  a  new  era,  let  the  universities  also 
do  their  part,  and  by  material  help  and 
common  effort  show  that  in  pursuing  the 
advancement  of  learning  they  have  not 
forgotten  causes  of  even  greater  and 
holier  moment.” 

Sir  Maurice  de  Bunsen,  former 
British  Ambassador  to  Vienna : 

“I  had  ample  opportunity  of  observing 
how  the  contributions  of  our  Universi¬ 
ties  and  Colleges  are  distributed  among 
the  needy  members  of  the  University  of 
Vienna  and  other  seats  of  learning  in 
Central  Europe.  I  am  convinced  that 
the  machinery  of  distribution  on  the  spot 

9 


is  thoroughly  efficient  and  most  econom¬ 
ically  worked.  The  objective  of  the  work 
is  actually  attained;  the  universities  of 
Central  Europe  are  being  materially 
aided  to  keep  open  their  doors.  Relief 
is  fulfilling  a  noble  purpose  in  keeping 
alight  the  torch  of  learning  in  countries 
where  its  brilliancy  -has  been  overshad¬ 
owed  by  the  national  disaster  .  I  am  ab¬ 
solutely  certain  that  this  work  is  helping 
powerfully  towards  drawing  together 
again  nations  naturally  friendly  to  each 
other  but  estranged  by  war.” 

Dr.  John  H.  Finley,  Associate  Edi¬ 
tor  New  York  **Times/^  and  former 
Commissioner  of  Education,  State 
of  New  York:  “Out  of  my  own  obser¬ 
vation  of  what  the  World’s  Student 
Christian  Federation  is  doing  out  in  some 
of  the  new  republics  of  Europe,  I  am 
able  to  give  warmest  support  to  this  great 
organization.  I  remember  particularly 
and  vividly  the  students  whom  I  saw  in 
the  old  University  of  Dorpat  in  Esthonia 
(old,  yet  young  with  the  spirit  of  an 
American  Middle  Western  College  of 
fifty  years  ago)  enjoying  the  nourishing 
hospitality  of  the  Federation. 

“But  all  this  is  but  a  preface  to  an  in¬ 
tellectual  and  spiritual  comradeship 
among  the  students  who  are  to  be  the 
leaders  in  the  world  affairs  of  tomorrow.” 

Professor  Thomas  W.  Graham, 
Oberlin  College:  “The  fate  of  demo¬ 
cratic  movements  in  Central  Europe  is 
largely  in  the  hands  of  the  student 
classes.  Thousands  of  the  best  type  are 
struggling  under  almost  unbearable  physi¬ 
cal  conditions,  paying  a  heavy  price  for 
necessary  training.  They  need  friendly 


10 


encouragement  expressed  through  food, 
clothing,  books,  and  medical  supplies,  in 
order  to  continue  the  struggle  to  fix 
democratic  ideals  in  Europe  and  replace 
hatreds  with  good  will.” 

Dr.  John  Grier  Hibben,  President 
of  Princeton  University:  “The  hope 
of  the  future  in  Europe  lies  in  the  edu¬ 
cation  of  the  coming  generation,  and  it 
is  certainly  a  privilege  if  in  America  we 
can  help  at  least  to  feed  and  clothe  the 
young  men  and  women  of  these  devasted 
lands  so  that  they  may  pursue  their 
studies  without  the  gnawing  anxiety 
in  their  hearts  as  to  where  or  how  they 
can  obtain  sufficient  food  to  keep  them 
barely  alive.” 

Dr.  John  R.  Mott,  Chairman  of 
the  World’s  Student  Christian  Fed¬ 
eration:  “Because  of  the  importance  of 
the  present  generation  of  European  stu¬ 
dents,  grave  problems  press  upon  every 
land  in  Europe.  It  is  of  supreme  im¬ 
portance  that  the  life  and  efficiency  of 
this  generation  of  future  leaders  be  safe¬ 
guarded.” 

“Such  a  friendly  and  unselfish  ministry 
by  the  students  and  professors  of  Amer¬ 
ica  and  other  lands  will  help  to  lay  secure 
foundations  for  the  rebuilding  of  the 
shattered  international  structure.  It  is 
most  fitting  that  the  generating  centers 
of  leadership  among  the  nations  should 
take  initiative  in  this  most  important  re¬ 
construction  task.” 


II 


STUDENT  RELIEF:  ITS  PAST, 
PRESENT,  FUTURE 
The  Beginning  of  Relief 

Relief  operations  in  behalf  of  the  stu¬ 
dents  of  Europe  had  their  beginning  in 
Vienna  in  March,  1920,  following  upon 
investigations  made  by  representatives 
of  the  World’s  Student  Christian  Fed¬ 
eration.  This  organization,  formed  in 
1895,  in  which  the  students  of  nearly 
every  country  in  the  world  are  actively 
represented,  is  a  federation  of  National 
Student  Christian  Movements.  It  is  a 
student  organization  of  friendship,  inter¬ 
denominational,  interconfessional,  fully 
international.  Throughout  the  spring 
and  summer  of  1920  relief  operations 
were  continued  and  enlarged  in  Vienna 
in  cooperation  with  the  Society  of 
Friends.  During  that  summer  opera¬ 
tions  were  also  begun,  together  with  the 
Society  of  Friends  and  the  American 
Y.  M.  C.  A.,  in  several  other  countries, 
and  work  which  had  been  going  on  for 
some  time  among  foreign  students  in 
Switzerland  was  continued. 

The  General  Scheme  Launched 

The  general  European  Student  Relief 
scheme  was  formally  launched  in  August, 
1920,  by  the  unanimous  decision  of  rep¬ 
resentatives  of  students  of  thirty-nine 
nations  gathered  at  Beatenberg,  Switzer¬ 
land  as  the  Executive  Committee  of  the 
World’s  Student  Christian  Federation. 

During  the  fall  of  that  year  campaigns 
for  funds  and  supplies  were  carried  on 
in  the  different  countries,  and  further 
organization  of  the  relief  efforts  in  the 
respective  fields  was  undertaken.  A  fund 
of  approximately  $480,000  was  con- 


12 


tributed  by  the  students  of  America. 
Contributions  were  made  by  twenty-five 
other  countries.  In  cooperation  with  the 
American  Relief  Administration  the 
work  expanded  progressively  until  April 
of  this  year,  when  the  full  program  was 

in  operation  in  the  following  eleven 
countries  of  Central  and  Eastern  Europe : 
Asia  Minor,  Austria,  Czechoslovakia, 
Esthonia,  Germany,  Hungary,  Latvia, 
Poland,  Turkey;  also  in  France  and 
Switzerland  among  foreign  students. 

The  operations  have  touched  120  dif¬ 
ferent  institutions  of  higher  learning, 
with  an  attendance  of  250,000  students. 
Help  has  been  given  in  one  form  or  an¬ 
other  to  some  70,000  students. 

The  Decision  to  Continue 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Executive  Com¬ 
mittee  of  the  World’s  Student  Christian 
Federation  at  Hardenbroek  Castle  in 
Holland  in  June  of  this  year  the  work  of 
relief  was  reviewed,  and  reports  as  to 

the  condition  of  students  and  of  the 
countries  of  Europe  generally  were  pre¬ 
sented  by  expert  investigators.  The  re¬ 
sulting  decision  was  that  operations 
should  be  continued  through  1922  and 
that  an  appeal  should  be  made  to  stu¬ 
dents  throughout  the  world  to  make  this 
continuation  possible. 

The  decision  was  later  endorsed  by  the 
North  American  Student  Movements  in 
which  are  represented  student  bodies, 
including  the  Student  Young  Men’s 
Christian  Associations,  Student  Young 
Women’s  Christian  Associations  and 
Student  Volunteer  Movements;  by  the 
American  Relief  Administration,  and 
by  numerous  other  qualified  authorities. 


13 


EUROPEAN  STUDENT  RELIEF 

WORLD’S  STUDENT  CHRISTIAN 
FEDERATION 

During  1920-1921  relief  was  adminis¬ 
tered  through,  the^  World^s  Student 
Christian  Federation  to  70,000  European 
students  in  120  universities  with  an  en¬ 
rollment  of  250,000  students. 

Countries  contributing  to  and  receiv¬ 
ing  student  relief  in  Central  and  Eastern 
Europe : 


CONTRIBUTION 


DISTRIBUTION 


Argentine 
Canada 
China 
Denmark 
Egypt 
England 
France 
India  and  Ceylo 
Italy 
Jamaica 
Japan 


^nd  value  of 
Tood  and  clothin^^ 
Idistributed  IhmWSII 


Japanese  inU.sAilt  COOperdlion 
Netherlands^r^^with  theA.I\.A.> 


Norway 
Portugal' 
Roumanian 
South  Africa; 
Sweden 
Switzerland^ 
United  Kingdom^ 
United  States 


$600,000. 


Refugee  students 
in  Germany. 
Hungary 


Because  of  the  exchange  value  of  the 
American  dollar  in  Europe,  every  con¬ 
tribution  in  dollars  multiplies  itself  many 
times  when  applied  to  relief  work. 

The  funds  raised  last  fall  in  this  coun¬ 
try  came  as  a  result  of  an  appeal  made 
by  student  organizations  of  America  in 
cooperation  with  the  American  Relief 
Administration.  The  appeal  this  year 
is  being  continued  by  student  organiza¬ 
tions,  with  the  enedorsement  of  the  Amer- 


14 


ican  Relief  Administration,  although  the 
A.  R.  A.  is  not  making  a  nationwide 
canvass  at  this  time. 

Since  the  World’s  Student  Christian 
Federation  administers  relief  to  students 
in  Eastern  as  well  as  Central  Europe, 
the  Near  East  Relief  and  the  Student 
Friendship  Fund  have  made  the  follow¬ 
ing  agreement  in  regard  to  raising  funds 
in  the  United  States : 

That  these  two  relief  movements  ought 
to  continue  their  independent  appeals  to 
their  own  constituencies,  but  that  the 
workers  in  both  movements  should  co¬ 
operate. 

That  it  is  clear  that  each  organization 
should  continue  its  own  natural  ap¬ 
proaches  to  their  fields,  the  Student 
Movement  having  a  primary  approach 
to  the  campus  through  its  regularly  or¬ 
ganized  work;  the  Near  East  Relief  has 
a  primary  approach  to  the  community 
and  as  such  would  expect  college  stu¬ 
dents  to  assist  in  the  community  cam¬ 
paign. 

That  it  is  recognized  that  the  final  de¬ 
cision  concerning  local  financial  cam¬ 
paigns  in  any  college  rests  wholly  in  the 
hands  of  the  responsible  coimmittees 
within  each  local  institution. 


m 


15 


NEEDS  FOR  1921-1922 

With  Russia  opening^  her  doors  to 
relief  additional  responsibility  for  the 
assistance  of  Russian  students  is  placed 
on  the  Relief  Committee  of  the  World’s 
Student  Christian  Federation.  It  is 
difficult  to  estimate. at  this  time  how 
gfreat  this  demand  will  be. 

An  increasing:  number  of  “foreigfn” 
and  refugfee  students  have  come  to  the 
United  States  from  Europe  this  year. 
Many  of  these  students  need  such  help 
as  the  Federation  can  g^ive.  To  care  for 
this  gfroup  there  will  be  required  $78,000, 
of  which  amount  one  half  is  to  be  con¬ 
sidered  as  a  revolving:  loan  fund. 

A  constantly  increasing*  demand  has 
been  made  on  the  reg:ular  staff  of  the 
World’s  Student  Christian  Federation 
for  work  in  connection  with  relief  and 
$18,000  toward  the  current  budget 
should  be  provided. 

To  adequately  meet  the  above  needs 
and  continue  to  provide  relief  already 
undertaken  a  minimum  of  $750,000  will 
be  required.  Much  more  could  be  wisely 
used.  In  order  to  secure  the  minimum  of 
$750,000  it  will  be  necessary  for  the 
students  of  America  to  give  at  least  one 
half  a  million  dollars.  American  student 
contributions  last  year  for  European  re¬ 
lief,  chiefly  student,  totalled  approxi¬ 
mately  $580,000.  The  nature  of  relief 
will,  as  in  the  past,  be  determined  by  ex¬ 
isting  conditions.  The  Relief  Committee 
estimates  the  following  approximate  pro¬ 
portions;  feeding,  medical  help,  30%; 
clothing,  17^;  housing,  3%;  books, 
self-help,  student  exchange,  3%;  refugee 
students,  23%;  administration,  visitation, 
emergency  fund,  \y%. 

16 


The  Contributing  Countries 

Either  through  national  committees  or 
through  individuals,  students  in  the  fol¬ 
lowing  countries  contribute  in  different 
ways  to  the  work :  Australia,  Canada, 
China,  Cuba,  Denmark,  Egypt,  Finland, 
France,  Germany,  Great  Britain  and  Ire¬ 
land,  Holland,  India,  Italy,  Jamaica,  Ja¬ 
pan,  Latin  America  (including  Argentina, 
Brazil,  Chile,  Peru  and  Uruguay),  New 
Zealand,  Norway,  Portugal,  Russia, 
Spain,  Serbia,  South  Africa,  Sweden, 
Switzerland  and  the  United  States. 

Each  country  has  developed  its  own 
method  of  financial  campaign.  In  Hol¬ 
land  a  Central  National  Committee  was 
organized.  In  Great  Britain  the  con¬ 
tributions  have  been  made  through  the 
University  Section  of  the  War  Relief 
Fund.  In  other  lands  a  special  National 
University  Committee  was  formed.  In 
others  the  appeal  has  been  made  by 
existing  student  organizations. 

How  Directed  and  Administered 

The  work  is  directed  by  an  Interna¬ 
tional  Relief  Committee  under  the  direc¬ 
tion  of  the  World’s  Student  Christian 
Federation.  Funds  and  supplies  are 
cleared  through  the  central  office  at 
Geneva.  Apart  from  a  limited  number 
of  executives  in  the  field,  operations  in 
the  relief  areas  are  conducted  largely 
through  voluntary  workers.  The  field 
representatives  in  each  country  are  work¬ 
ing  through  committees  of  students  of 
diverse  nationality  and  religion.  At  least 
half  of  the  field  staff  is  composed  of 
women.  A  system  of  Visiting  Repre¬ 
sentatives  has  been  developed  whereby 


17 


the  different  contributing  nations  send 
student  representatives  for  periods  of 
three  months  to  work  under  the  field 
representatives. 

Principles  Followed  in  Relief 

1.  All  relief  work  is  conducted  as  far  as 
possible  on  sound  economic  lines,  no  stu¬ 
dent  being  helped  without  careful  exami¬ 
nation  of  his  financial  and  other  needs. 
Students  pay  to  the  utmost  of  their  ability 
for  whatever  they  receive. 

2.  Self-help  is  in  every  possible  way  en¬ 
couraged. 

3. '  Close  cooperation  is  followed  with  ex¬ 
isting  agencies,  both  in  raising  money 
and  in  administration  on  the  field,  to 
avoid  overlapping.  The  aim  is,  by  care¬ 
ful  correlation  of  effort  and  the  mini¬ 
mum  of  overhead  expense  to  secure  the 
maximum  relief  for  the  maximum  num¬ 
ber  of  students  in  so  far  as  this  is  possible 
without  (a)  endangering  the  principle  of 
self-help,  and  (b)  without  losing  sight 
of  the  importance  of  developing  human 
personal  contacts.  In  every  field  effort 
is  made  to  work  in  accordance  with  the 
national  spirit  and  methods,  and  to  make 
use  of  indigenous  workers  and  agencies 

4.  Relief  is  administered  impartially, 
without  regard  to  race,  nationality,  or 
creed,  or  any  other  criterion  than  proven 
need. 

Nature  of  Relief  Operations 

The  nature  of  relief  operations  is 
manifold  and  varied  with  the  respective 
countries ;  also  to  some  extent  with  local 
and  individual  needs.  The  methods  of 
relief  may  be  summarized  under  the 
heads  of  food  distribution,  clothing  dis- 

i8 


tribution,  housing,  heating  and  lighting 
facilities,  books,  medical  aid,  self-help, 
and  that  abstract  element  of  encourage¬ 
ment  which  can  best  be  described  by  the 
simple  word  “friendship”.  The  purpose 
of  relief  far  transcends  that  of  mere 
physical  aid,  but  this  is  obviously  an 
absolute  essential  in  any  practical  effort, 
to  meet  the  needs.  Inasmuch  as  this 
form  of  relief  is  necessarily  basic  and 
applies  generally  throughout  the  relief 
areas,  an  indication  of  what  is  being 
done  in .  this  regard  is  offered  before 
pointing  out  other  forms  of  service. 

Food  and  Clothing 

A  recent  report  from  the  Geneva 
headquarters  announced  that  the  Euro¬ 
pean  Student  Relief  was  serving  one 
meal  a  day  to  more  than  27,000  students 
in  the  chief  countries  of  Central  Europe, 
while  supplementary  food  was  being 
supplied  by  the  American  Relief  Ad¬ 
ministration,  on  the  basis  of  funds  con¬ 
tributed  to  the  student  enterprisje,  to 
over  40,000  more  in  other  parts  of  that 
area.  In  addition  there  had  been  dis¬ 
tributed,  among  other  foodstuffs,  63 
tons  of  cocoa,  93,500  tins  of  condensed 
milk,  5,300  kilo  bacon,  7,200  kilo  lard, 
76,000  kilo  flour,  10,700  kilo  sugar, 
14,900  kilo  corned  beef. 

Of  clothing  there  had  been  distributed 
3,250  suits  and  costumes,  4,600  sweaters, 
1,850  overcoats,  19,000  pairs  of  socks 
and  stockings,  4,900  pairs  of  boots,  3,500 
suits  of  pajamas,  2,300  sets  of  under¬ 
wear,  5,200  pairs  of  gloves,  besides  quan¬ 
tities  of  miscellaneous  clothing  and  ma¬ 
terial  for  underclothing. 


19 


Quantities  of  clothing  and  other  per¬ 
sonal  essentials  are  purchased  by  the 
relief  organizations  and  sold  at  greatly 
reduced  prices. 

Housing 

This  feature  of  the  service  is  vitally 
important.  The  housing  conditions  of 
thousands  of  students  are  deplorable. 
Men  and  women  are  living  in  crowded, 
dark  and  unheated  rooms  and  without 
lighting  facilities.  A  recent  report  from 
Warsaw  states  that  12,000  students  are 
without  quarters.  In  Budapest  the  hos¬ 
tel  in  which  32  students  live  is  over  a 
stable,  with  no  washing  or  heating  fa¬ 
cilities.  In  another  building  16  men 
were  found  in  each  of  three  rooms  and 
15  in  another. 

Barracks  have  been  obtained  from 
Government  departments  in  several  of 
the  countries  and  fitted  up  to  meet  such 
needs.  Necessary  equipment  in  the  way 
of  beds,  blankets,  etc.,  has  been  supplied 
to  existing  student  hostels.  The  initia¬ 
tive  of  the  European  Student  Relief  in 
meeting  the  housing  problem  has  brought 
forth  impressive  cooperation  from  stu¬ 
dents  and  also  from  Governments. 

Self-Help  Schemes 

The  relief  representatives  initiated  in 
Prague,  as  a  means  of  meeting  the  hous¬ 
ing  crisis,  the  idea  of  a  student  colony. 
Four  million  crowns  were  given  by  the 
Government,  the  Red  Cross  promised 
beds  and  blankets,  the  City  donated  the 
ground,  and  500  students  built  ten  bar¬ 
racks  to  house  750  students,  while  women 
students  helped  in  the  kitchen  and  dining- 


20 


(It  Relief  Area 


M  KEY 

boundary  of  area  of  need 

Central  receiving  and  distributing 
headquarters 

From  countries  coninbutmg  relief 
To  countnes  recetvin5  relief. 


AuSTIIAlIA 


XCAlAmO 


I/NOI  A 


JAPA  N 


*om  which  students  are  con- 
hich  it  is  being  administered, 
/ing  and  distributing  head- 


irough  the  World's  Student 


room  which  were  hastily  put  up  to  feed 
tlie  student  workmen.  All  received  two 
meals  a  day.  “No  Work — No  Meals” 
was  the  motto.  Only  students  who  took 
part  in  the  building  are  allowed  to  live 
in  the  barracks. 

The  self-help  plan  described  above  is 
but  one  of  a  variety  of  methods  which 
have  been  found  practical,  among  them 
the  following:  An  Austrian  woodcut¬ 
ting  camp,  Russian  student  cooperative 
restaurants  in  Zurich  and  Berne,  Ger¬ 
man  farm  colony  at  Saarow,  student 
workshops  in  Warsaw  where  students 
control  and  operate  a  university  printing 
press  and  bookbinding  establishment,  as 
well  as  working  at  tailoring  and  shoemak¬ 
ing.  In  certain  countries  the  relief  scheme 
functions  very  largely  through  assistance 
given  to  existing  national  student  cooper¬ 
ative  schemes.  The  whole  student  body 
in  some  countries  is  evolving  nationwide 
plans  for  student  self-help  on  a  coopera¬ 
tive  basis.  The  extent  to  which  students 
seek  to  make  themselves  self-supporting 
is  treated  in  another  part  of  this  booklet. 

Medical  Aid 

Years  of  underfeeding,  lack  of  proper 
sanitation  and  congested  living  condi¬ 
tions  have  so  weakened  the  resistant 
powers  of  many  students  that  anaemia, 
tuberculosis  and  other  diseases  are  rife. 
In  Prague  a  student  clinic  is  operated. 
In  Poland  during  the  past  summer  120 
students  were  sent  for  one  month  each 
to  a  sanatorium.  Much  attention  is  given 
to  special  cases.  In  Vienna  there  is 
usually  on  the  roll  between  one  and  two 
hundred  invalid  students  who  are  sup- 


21 


plied  with  special  food  and  medicine.  At 
special  student  farms  and  holiday  camps 
opportunity  is  given  for  rundown  stu¬ 
dents  to  recuperate. 

Heat  and  Light 

Study  rooms  have  been  secured  and 
supplied  with  light  and  heat.  Various 
Governments  have  been  induced  to  grant 
cheap  rates  for  fuel  and  light.  Many 
tons  of  wood  have  been  purchased  and 
distributed  by  the  Student  Relief  to  stu¬ 
dent  hostels. 

V 

Books 

The  relief  scheme  has  very  little 
money  to  spend  for  books,  but  it  has 
been  possible  to  give  much  essential  aid, 
not  only  in  supplying  textbooks  and 
books  of  reference,  but  in  interest¬ 
ing  other  organizations  in  supplying 
them,  in  helping  in  the  organization  of 
cooperative  book  shops,  in  supplying 
paper  stock,  and  acting,  as  in  Hungary, 
as  head  of  a  Government  committee  deal¬ 
ing  with  the  question  of  literature  for 
use  by  students  and  faculties. 

The  book  problem  has  been  a  serious 
one  for  several  reasons.  During  and 
after  the  war  the  demand  for  the  better 
class  of  books  decreased  and  the  risk  of 
publishing  such  books  therefore  in¬ 
creased.  Moreover,  those  who  are  able 
to  publish,  as  far  as  educational  equip¬ 
ment  and  research  are  concerned,  are 
not  in  a  position  to  undertake  the  finan¬ 
cial  risk.  Scientific  books  and  journals 
did  not  reach  Central  and  Eastern  Eu¬ 
rope  during  the  war,  and  disadvantages 
of  exchange  make  their  purchase  impos¬ 
sible  now  for  most  students. 


22 


Europe  Itself  Cooperating 

From  the  very  first  the  work  has  re¬ 
ceived  cordial  and  substantial  aid  from 
nearly  every  Government  in  the  relief 
areas.  Cooperation  has  again  and  again 
been  extended  in  the  following  and  other 
ways :  In  finding  and  providing  offices 
and  buildings  for  the  conduct  of  the 
work ;  providing  transportation  and  vari-* 
ous  supplies ;  supplying  relief,  as  in  Hun¬ 
gary,  in  the  proportion  of  five  to  one 
for  every  dollar  expended  by  the  Fed¬ 
eration  ;  aiding  in  the  selection  of  stu¬ 
dents  who  should  receive  relief. 

Various  national  agencies,  including 
the  Red  Cross  societies  and  numerous 
smaller  bodies  of  various  faiths,  have  co¬ 
operated. 

Almost  every  university  where  the 
work  extends  has  provided  offices,  store 
rooms,  halls,  and  in  some  cases  dormi¬ 
tories  where  needy  students  may  be 
housed. 

Students  themselves  are  giving  lib¬ 
erally  of  their  time  to  the  administration 
of  relief.  Not  only  through  this  direct 
cooperation,  but  through  their  own 
groups  are  the  students  of  Europe  at¬ 
tempting  heroically  to  meet  the  situation. 

Efforts  at  Self  Support 

Relief  campaigns  are  often  hampered 
by  the  belief,  exceedingly  prevalent  in 
some  countries  of  the  Western  World, 
that  European  students  despise  non- 
academic  work  and  prefer  dependence 
on  charity  to  manual  labor.  Whatever 
may  have  been  the  case  before  the  war, 
it  is  not  so  now.  They  are  turning  their 
hands  as  well  as  their  mental  faculties 
to  whatever  work  they  can  find  to  do. 


23 


Carefully  collected  statistics  show  that 
practically  every  student  in  Poland,  Aus¬ 
tria  and  Esthonia,  and  at  least  65  per 
cent  of  students  in  Hungary  and  50  per 
cent  in  Germany  are  doing  wage-earn¬ 
ing  work ;  that  where  they  are  not  work¬ 
ing  it  is  either  because  they  cannot  find 
work  to  do  or  because  they  are  physically 
unfit;  also  that  the  work  they  are  doing 
rarely  brings  in  enough  to  support  them 
while  studying.  In  Latvia  80  per  cent 
of  the  students  in  the  University  of  Riga 
are  working  in  Government  offices  or 
other  places  of  business.  So  universally 
do  students  earn  their  living  that  the 
University  recognizes  the  system,  and  no 
classes  are  held  betweeen  9 :00  A.  M. 
and  3  :00  P.  M. 

In  obtaining  manual  labor  the  student 
meets  difficulties  with  the  trades  unions. 
In  some  countries  a  student  cannot  get 
employment  as  a  printer  unless  he  joins 
the  union,  and  the  unions  have  in  the 
past  opposed  the  admission  of  “intellec¬ 
tuals.”  However,  trades  unions  in  sev¬ 
eral  coutries,  realizing  student  needs,  are 
letting  down  the  bars  and  admitting  stu¬ 
dents  desirous  of  helping  themselves. 
Austrian,  Czech,  Polish  and  German  sta¬ 
tistics  show  students  working,  not  only 
as  teachers,  typists  and  clerks,  but  also 
as  mechanics,  wood  cutters,  harvesters, 
casual  laborers,  farm  laborers,  night 
watchmen,  coal  heavers,  builders,  chauf¬ 
feurs,  street  car  conductors,  shoemakers, 
lithographers,  musicians  in  restaurants 
and  movie  houses,  shoeblacks,  weavers, 
waiters,  etc.  Women  students  do  wait¬ 
ing,  sewing,  knitting,  dressmaking,  em¬ 
broidery,  millinery,  ironing,  convalescent 


24 


nursing,  telephone  operating,  collecting 
bills  for  landladies,  etc. 

The  Woman  Student 

In  the  universities  of  Europe  one-fifth 
to  one-third  of  the  enrollment  is  reore- 
sented  by  women.  As  regards  general 
population  women  outnumber  men  in 
some  countries  of  Europe  by  three  to 
one.  An  Englishwoman,  herself  a  medi¬ 
cal  student,  writes,  after  personal  study 
of  the  situation  among  women  students 
in  Europe : 

^‘I  have  managed  to  get  to  only  eight 
universities  and,  while  there  may  be 
some  women  who  have  enough  money  to 
live  on,  I  have  not  met  them  yet.  A 
large  proportion  of  the  women  students 
are  depending  upon  their  earnings  for  a 
fair  part  of  their  income,  and  some  for 
the  whole  of  it.  In  most  cases  they  give 
private  lessons.  Some  are  in  offices  part 
time  and  a  few  in  factories  during  vaca¬ 
tion.  They  are  all  underfed  and  show 
the  effects  of  years  of  underfeeding. 
Many  are  receiving  the  free  or  reduced 
rate  meals.  Clothes  and  shoes  are  the 
great  difficulty,  especially  the  latter.  As 
for  the  former,  they  are  still  struggling 
along  with  what  they  had  before  the  war, 
and  in  some  cases  are  using  household 
linens  to  make  undergarments.  In  their 
effort  to  get  through  the  universities  in 
the  shortest  possible  time,  earning  money 
as  they  go,  they  are  all  working  too  hard, 
and  the  result  shows  in  the  state  of  ten¬ 
sion  in  which  they  live.  Health  is  far 
below  par.  Heart  trouble,  tuberculosis, 
anaemia,  nervousness  and  fainting  are 
prevalent.” 


25 


Retugee  Students 

Refugees  form  a  large  element  in  the 
student  population  of  Central  Europe 
and  the  Near  East.  The  many  thou¬ 
sands  of  needy  among  this  element  in 
the  relief  areas  constitute  the  most  seri¬ 
ous  problem  in  the  work.  The  question 
is  often  asked,  “How  did  these  students 
become  refugees,  and  why  do  they  not 
return  to  their  own  countries?”  There 
are  refugees  of  different  kinds.  There 
are  those  students  who  were  studying 
away  from  their  own  countries  who,  be¬ 
cause  of  the  war  or  some  other  disturb¬ 
ing  condition,  have  had  communication 
with  their  homes  cut  off.  This  is  the 
case  with  numbers  of  Russian  students 
in  Switzerland  who  were  stranded  there 
at  the  beginning  of  the  war  and  have 
never  been  able  to  return.  There  are 
also  the  students  who  have  been  on  the 
losing  side  in  civil  war  or  revolution  and 
have  fled  from  their  own  countries.  Of 
this  class  were  successive  waves  of  refu¬ 
gee  students  from  Hungary  to  Austria, 
and  Russian  students  who  fought  in  one 

army  or  another  against  the  dominant 
regime.  Other  refugees  are  students 

who  are  prisoners  of  war,  not  yet  re¬ 
patriated,  but  whose  release  from  cap¬ 
tivity  and  entrance  to  educational  insti¬ 
tutions  have  been  obtained  by  the  Euro¬ 
pean  Student  Relief.  There  are,  finally, 
those  students  who,  though  in  their  own 
country,  are  nevertheless  foreigners.  The 
refugee  students  in  Hungary  today  are 
all  of  this  class,  as  they  are  in  territories 
transferred  under  the  Peace  Treaty  from 
Hungary  to  Roumania,  Czechoslovakia 
and  Jugoslavia.  Nearly  all  refugee  stu¬ 
dents  have  passed  through  great  suffer- 

26 


ing  from  war,  imprisonment,  epidemics 
and  starvation.  Owing  to  shifting  con¬ 
ditions  among  refugee  students  exact  sta¬ 
tistics  as  to  their  number  are  unavail¬ 
able,  but  investigation  indicates  that  the 
number  of  such  students  of  all  nationali¬ 
ties  with  whom  the  work  has  to  deal  is 
not  less  than  18,000  to  20,000.  In  Hun¬ 
gary  at  least  one-quarter  of  the  student 
population  are  refugees.  In  Vienna  at 
least  one-quarter  of  the  students  are  for¬ 
eign  and  a  large  proportion  are  refugees. 
Russian  (including  Ukrainian)  refugee 
students  are  found  in  large  numbers  all 
over  Central  Europe,  there  being  1,800 
in  Czechoslovakia  alone,  and  at  least 
10,000  in  the  relief  areas  generally. 

Are  There  Too  Many  Students? 

The  demand  for  professional  men  and 
women  far  exceeeds  the  present  and  pros¬ 
pective  supply  in  all  lands  of  Europe 
where  there  is  either  an  entirely  new 
State  or  an  attempt  to  build  up  a  State 
on  a  new  basis. 

Poland,  Czechoslovakia,  Esthonia, 
Latvia,  Lithuania  and  Russia  all  come 
within  this  category.  The  same  is  true 
to  a  large  extent  of  Turkey  and  Asia 
Minor.  In  none  of  these  States,  for  vari¬ 
ous  reasons,  are  there  enough  profes¬ 
sional  people  to  meet  the  rapidly  develop¬ 
ing  demands  of  the  new  order.  In  Po¬ 
land  and  the  Baltic  States  Government 
positions  before  the  war  were  not  in  the 
hands  of  the  racial  majority  in  the  coun¬ 
try,  and  under  the  new  order  the  men 
and  women  of  the  racial  majority  must 
be  trained  for  their  new  responsibilities. 
In  Poland  in  pre-war  times  80  per  cent 
of  the  population  was  illiterate.  Despite 


27 


her  four  new  universities  Poland  is  la¬ 
mentably  lacking  in  teachers,  doctors  and 
engineers.  In  Polish  Galicia,  where 
typhus  was  raging  not  long  since,  there 
was  only  one  physician  for  every  150,000 
of  population. 

In  Austria,  Hungary  and  Germany  the 
supply  of  students  exceeds  the  demand 
for  professional  men  and  women.  The 
Governments  of  these  countries  are  seek¬ 
ing  to  solve  this  problem,  but  it  cannot  be 
hastily  solved  because  of  conditions  of 
unemployment  and  because  the  trades 
unions  and  the  farmers  have  been  bit¬ 
terly  opposed  to  the  entry  of  ^‘intellec¬ 
tuals”  into  their  ranks.  Furthermore, 
many  students  were  so  disabled  as  a  re¬ 
sult  of  the  war  that  they  are  unfit  for 
manual  labor  and  have  naturally  turned 
to  academic  and  professional  careers. 
This  situation  is  complicated  by  the  large 
numbers  of  refugee  students. 

On  the  other  hand,  economic  forces 
are  tending  to  reduce  the  number  of 
students.  The  strong  desire,  obviously, 
is  to  make  a  living,  and  those  who  can 
obtain  full  time  work  are  glad  to  do  so. 
Moreover,  parents  are  sacrificing  cher¬ 
ished  family  traditions  for  the  sake  of 
getting  their  children  at  an  earlier  age 
into  remunerative  careers.  In  Austria 
the  tide  is  turning  toward  a  business 
college  education  rather  than  university 
training,  the  privations  of  student  life 
being  anything  but  attractive.  Therein 
lies  one  of  the  grave  dangers  that  Europe 
will  continue  to  lack  an  equipped  leader¬ 
ship. 

Not  Developing  Pauper  Students 

Both  because  of  considerations  pre- 

28 


sented  in  the  foregoing  paragraph  and 
because  the  conditions  under  which  relief 
is  administered  effectively  discourage 
it,  the  work  does  not  tend  to  develop  a 
class  of  parasitic  students  who  seek  to 
turn  a  scheme  of  friendship  into  doubt¬ 
ful  charity.  As  a  further  safeguard, 
all  help  during  this  new  year  will  be 
given  to  upper  class  students.  No  new 
students  entering  the  institutions  of 
higher  education  will  come  in  with  the 
idea  of  receiving  aid  other  than  indi¬ 
rectly  from  this  relief. 

The  Russian  Situation 

The  eleven  fields  already  entered  re¬ 
quire  a  continuation  of  the  relief.  Their 
needs  are  no  whit  diminished  by  the 
opening  of  Russia.  But,  as  she  is  open¬ 
ing  her  doors  to  relief,  her  case  must  be 
given  present  consideration  by  the  stu¬ 
dents  of  America.  The  outstanding  fact 
is  that  Russia  is  in  desperate  need  of 
students.  Since  1914,  30,000  physicians, 
or  one-third  of  the  country’s  medical 
personnel,  have  died  as  a  result  of  war 
and  pestilence.  The  Government  is  re¬ 
ported  to  be  encouraging  research  and 
the  study  of  medicine,  engineering,  and 
all  technological  subjects.  Two  Russian 
universities.  Samara  and  Saratoff,  are 
in  the  famine  area;  several  others  are  in 
the  partial  famine  area. 

Certainly  students  of  no  country  are 
in  greater  need  than  in  Russia  and  cer¬ 
tainly  there  is  no  country  in  which  it  is 
more  important  that  the  students  of  this 
generation  be  encouraged  in  right  think- 
ing  by  the  spirit  of  intellectual  student 
friendship. 


29 


Relief  Is  Appreciated 

The  fact  that  students,  Governments, 
local  and  national  organizations  and 
numerous  other  representative  interests 
are  helping  in  the  work  is  assuring  evi¬ 
dence  of  appreciation.  From  many 
sources  come  testimonials  of  gratitude. 
Their  tenor  is  that  the  relief  is  a  God- 
sent  work;  that  the  service  is  being  re¬ 
ceived  in  the  spirit  in  which  it  is  given; 
and  that  there  is  growing  perception  that 
it  is  creating  a^id  strengthening  bonds  of 
friendship  among  the  natipns.  Excerpts 
from  several  letters  follow : 

From  letter  signed  by  300  stu¬ 
dents:  ‘‘When,  far  from  our  beloved 
home,  the  members  of  our  society  meet 
here  on  the  first  day  of  the  Easter  holi¬ 
days,  we  have  decided  to  thank  you  with 
a  few  warm  words  for  the  kindness  you 
have  shown  towards  us.  .  .  .  In¬ 

terpreting  the  love  and  devotion  of  our 
youth  to  you,  we  ask  the  blessing  of  God 
on  your  kind  work  of  benefaction.” 

From  the  Catholic  Women’s  So¬ 
ciety,  Budapest:  “Maybe  we  never 
will  be  able  to  prove  our  deep  apprecia¬ 
tion  which  we  feel  towards  the  noble 
way  in  which  you  have  shown  the  virtues 
of  charity,  which  gave  us  not  only  rem¬ 
edy  for  our  bodies  but  also  made  us  feel 
easier  and  to  look  hopefully  to  the  fu¬ 
ture.” 

From  Dr.  Friedrich  Hertz,  State 
Department,  Vienna:  “Thousands  of 
hopeful  young  people  are  being  saved 
through  your  work  from  extreme  misery 
which  otherwise  would  probably  break 
their  mental  and  moral  energy.  If  they 


30 


should  succumb  this  would  mean  the  dis¬ 
appearance  of  forces  indispensable  for 
any  reconstruction  in  our  country.  It 
is  a  wonderful  manifestation  of  a  truly 
Christian  spirit  for  bringing  about  recon¬ 
ciliation  and  brotherly  cooperation.” 

From  the  Rector,  University  of 
Debreczen,  Hungary:  ‘‘The  Senate  of 
our  university  take  the  first  opportunity 
to  express  its  best  thanks  for  this 
brotherly  kind  help.” 

A  touching  expression  of  appreciation 
which  at  the  same  time  reveals  the  desire 
that  others  might  share  in  the  blessings 
of  relief  was  received  from  the  President 
of  the  National  Federation  of  Jewish 
Hungarian  Students.  This  organization 
took  cognizance  of  the  fact  that  the 
World’s  Student  Christian  Federation 
was  prepared  to  extend  relief  to  the  Jew¬ 
ish  youth  of  the  universities  in  Hungary. 
The  Joint  Distribution  Committee  of 
America,  a  Jewish  organization,  had 
already,  it  appeared,  extended  the  aid 
immediately  required.  The  Jewish  Hun¬ 
garian  students  thereupon  wrote  to  the 
Federation  requesting  it  “to  distribute 
our  share  of  the  donations  which  have 
been  allocated  for  the  relief  of  Hungarian 
students  to  our  needv  Christian  col- 
leagues”. 


31 


TO  *THE*SnJDENT5*  OF*THE 
UNITED*ST?aT5*OF*AMERIC\ 


f, STUDENTS  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OFIATVIA-INRI^ 
DEEPLY  AND  SKCEREIiTlim  YOU  FOR  TTiE  HELP* 
EXTENDED  TO  U5  BY  YOU  AT  THE  PEESENTHARD  TIME 
OFNEED.»tHEWDELD’5  STDDENTS'CamSTlAN  FEDERA: 
TION  AND  THE  AMERICAN  RaSFADFflNmRSTlON  ARE 
XPESDINC  THEIR  BEST  EFFORTS  TO  RENDER  YDUR  ASSF 
S1A?ICE  AS  EFFICIENT  AS  POXjSlBlE.OUaSItCEEN  15^ 
PROVIDED  Wa  AHEMCAN  SUPPLIES. WE  HAVE  RECEIVED  A  SREXT  MANY 
VALUABLE  SdENTIHC  BOOKS  QUITE  UNATtAlNABlETD  US  BEFORE  BE¬ 
CAUSE  OF  OUR  EXTREMELY  INSUFFICIENT  M£ANS.*f 

OUE  COUNTRY  HAS  BEEN  CRUELLY  SUFFEElNfi  DUaiNd  SKTEAR^ 
OF  A  SANCBIKARY  WAB;WIDE  STRETCHES  OF  It  WERE  DEVASTATED 
COMPLETELY.  HENCE  THE  LACK  OF  THE  MOST  COMMON  DAISY  KECESHTIES 
AND  THE  OPPRESSING  DEAKrH.-lN  SPITTOP  ALMOST  UNSURMOUNTABIE  DIF 
nCULTIESAND  OSSTAClES.eURKATlON  HAS  GAINED  MS  INDEPENDENCE  AFTER 
A  severe  flGHT  DURDfli  WmCH  MANY  OF  OUS  FEUOW-STUDEN^  HAVE  STOOD 
IN  THE  first  EANISiAFHjHT  SIMILAR  It)  THEWAE  FOE  FREEDOM  YOUR  COUN¬ 
TRY  GLORIOUSLY  WAGED  AND  WON  ALMOST  HUNDRED  AND  FlFTl  VEASS  AfiOt 
NOWTUATPEACE  BAS  BEEN  ESTABUSliEO  WSTRY  ID  DO  OUR  BEST  IN  OUR 
WDRKTD  BECOME  ABLE  TD  EFFKiENny  STEVE  OUR  IIBERAJHD  KAHVE 
CCDNTRY.THE  REPUBLIC  OF  LATVIA.^ 

^  FEEL  UTMjOCT  obliged  TO  YOUR  REPBESENTAIIVES  MERE  DT 

TIN  CUB  LIFE  AND  WORK.. 

iNSPmir  US  wrra  fresh 

'HELP  AND  WTESNiaORllANlTAr 
assistance, DE^'JIAMEEICAN  FEUW-STCDENTS.IiAS  £E- 
LIT/eD  eUB  ^ILmON  not  only  maieeiaily.bitwas  also  a  po¬ 
werful  MORAL ENCOURAfiEMEWr  TO  US.  MTHOUCMWE  ARE  FAR 
AWAY  FROM  YflD,WE  ASF  SURE  THAT  THE  TES  OE  FRIENDSHIP  RNirTED 
BETWEEN  US  WIU  BE  FIRM  AND  USUNGANDTaATWE  SH  ALL  BE  CLO- 
StLY  DNITEB  IN  OUR  JOLNT  EEFOBS  FORHIE  WORLD’S  PROGRESS ,  IN 
ova  COMMON  ASMEAnONS  TOWARDS  All  WHAT  IS  mng  AND  GOOD. 

Deeply  touched  by  'reuRiiEADiHESS  TQ  h^  your,  fellow-* 
students  in  edbope.we  Send  you  across  m  sraour  heae- 

TIESr  dafgnNI^  AND  ! 


(3k‘ 


iNTHENAKEOFTISSniDENIS  OF  THE  UKWEBSITY  OF  LATVIA 
THE  MEMSE^  OF  TGE  STtmEN^’COUNCIL*. 


32 


Relief  Illustrations 

Extracts  from  reports  on  cases  of  in¬ 
dividual  student  needs; 

“B.  is  an  Armenian,  near  the  end  of 
his  studies.  He  sweeps  our  cooperative 
restaurant  for  one-third  of  what  the 
charwoman  costs  because  he  works  three 
times  as  fast.  He  continues  his  studies 
and  we  pay  his  upkeep  minus  consider¬ 
able  sums  which  the  local  secretary  ob¬ 
tains  specially  for  him.” 


“Mme.  P.  is  a  Russian,  suddenly  at¬ 
tacked  by  tuberculosis.  A  few  weeks  will 
probably  cure  her.  We  pay  part  of  the 
cost,  the  local  secretary  having  obtained 
the  rest  from  a  friend.  She  was  earning 
her  support  before  she  fell  ill  by  cooking 
in  the  student  cooperative  kitchen.” 


“K.,  a  Russian,  has  taken  his  medical 
degree  and  found  a  position  with  the 
Belgian  Government  in  the  Congo.  He 
had  no  money  for  the  trip  to  Brussels,  so 
we  paid  his  fare.” 


“S.  is  a  Polish  girl  whose  resources  are 
exhausted.  She  has  almost  finished  her 
diploma  in  French,  and  we  pay  her  fees 
for  this  semester  that  she  may  earn  her 
diploma  and  be  able  to  earn  her  living.” 


“D.,  a  Czech,  a  civil  engineer,  parents 
dead  since  his  14th  year,  has  been  living 
with  four  companions  in  miserable  quar¬ 
ters  in  a  dilapidated  office  building.  The 
room  serves  as  kitchen  and  cobbler’s 
shop,  and  is  low,  damp  and  dark.  The 
wife  of  the  concierge,  when  she  and  her 
husband  make  enough  money,  gives  the 
students  a  meal  of  vegetables.  This  hap¬ 
pens  about  three  times  a  week.  Other¬ 
wise  they  have  lived  entirely  on  black 
coffee  and  bread.  D.  has  been  pro¬ 
nounced  by  our  clinic  to  be  tuberculous 
in  both  lungs  and  in  great  need  of  special 
nourishment  and  fresh  air.  Our  Relief 


33 


Fund  has  given  him  tickets  to  our  Mensa, 
to  pay  for  which  he  works  every  day  in 
our  relief  office.  Better  quarters  have 
been  found  for  him  by  our  nurse  in  a 
dormitory  for  students.  It  is  our  hope 
to  send  him  to  a  sanatorium.  All  the 
money  that  he  has  been  able  to  make  in 
the  past  has  been  by  tutoring.  He  has 
not  been  strong  enough  for  manual 
work.” 


“U.  N.  J.  is  a  woman  student  at  the 
University  of  Kolozsvar  which  is  now 
temporarily  established  in  'Budapest,  as 
the  town  has  passed  to  the  Roumanians. 
She  is  married,  her  husband  being  a  ref¬ 
ugee  from  Transylvania,  and  they  have 
just  had  a  baby.  The  man  has  work  in 
an  office.  The  only  place  they  could  find 
to  live  in  is  a  villege  one  and  a  half  hours 
away  by  electric  railway.  They  live  in 
one  small  room  and  the  girl  has  to  do 
everything  herself.  She  does  not  com¬ 
plain,  and  says  they  are  much  better  off 
there  than  in  the  railway  wagon  where 
they  had  to  spend  the  first  three  months 
of  their  time  in  Budapest.  We  have 
helped  her  with  cocoa  and  milk  and  also 
with  a  special  gift  obtained  from  an 
American  friend.” 


“N.  U.,  a  Russian  student,  become 
Slovak  by  the  change  of  boundaries  of 
his  country,  has  been  prisoner  for  four 
years  in  Siberia.  He  returns  to  his  home 
to  find  his  family  wiped  out.  Falling  ill, 
he  must  go  to  a  hosiptal.  He  leaves  the 
hospital  without  money,  strength  or 
friends.  The  Russian  Red  Cross  cannot 
help  him  because  he  is  now  a  Slovak. 
He  knows  no  one  and  conies  to  us.  We 
have  given  him  meal  tickets,  for  which 
he  promises  to  pay  as  soon  as  he  can 
work  (his  appearance  makes  us  feel  he 
will  never  be  able  to  work  very  much), 
and  meanwhile  we  are  hoping  to  find 
money  to  put  him  in  a  sanatorium. 


34 


Reasons  Why 
Students  of  America 
Should  Give 

To  conserve  the  physical,  mental  and  moral 
gains  resulting  from  the  relief  extended  by 
American  students  during  the  past  yean 

To  carry  out  the  ordinary  implications  of 
the  Golden  Rule,  including  the  principle  that 
the  strong  should  serve  the  weak. 

To  give  added  force  to  the  effort  to  solve 
various  interracial  issues  involved  in  the  Con¬ 
ference  to  Reduce  Armaments. 

To  help  overcome  the  human  effects  of 
war,  privation  and  pestilence. 

To  impress  unmistakably  upon  the  future 
leaders  of  Europe,  who  are  its  present  students, 
that  the  purpose  of  America’s  youth  is  truly 
a  ministry  of  friendship. 

Because  the  broadly  spiritual  results  of  the 
relief  work  depend  very  largely  upon  its  being 
a  work  of  friendship  for  students  by  students. 

To  project  the  student  body  and  intelli¬ 
gence  of  America  actively  into  the  transcend¬ 
ent  task  of  world  reconstruction  along  lines 
of  goodwill  and  progress. 

To  help  meet  our  obligation  to  European 
institutions  to  which  our  own  educational 
life  owes  much. 

To  help  preserve  principles  and  institutions 
as  well  as  human  values  essential  to  the  re¬ 
covery  of  Europe  and  the  world. 


m 


35 


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